Oscar Levant's Rubinstein 4, or...

Started by John Boyer, Sunday 17 September 2023, 02:59

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John Boyer

Sunday 17 September 2023, 02:59
..."I Knew Doris Day before She Became a Virgin".

The other night I watched the (highly fictionalized) biopic "Rhapsody in Blue".  Oscar Levant plays a prominent role, as he did in "An American in Paris" and "Humoresque".  It got me to thinking of Levant -- not only his celebrated wit, but his efforts as a concert pianist (which, as he put it, was a pretentious way of saying that he was unemployed).  I found that in 2018 Sony issued an 8-CD box of all his classical recordings, accompanied by a 124-page book.  Alas, like most of the Sony boxes of the back catalog that have been released in recent years, this one became unavailable almost as soon as it was released (am I the only one to notice this irritating Sony box phenomenon?), but I did find this wonderful discussion of it in "Commentary" magazine:

The Man Who Wasn't Gershwin

Most of the set is devoted to the standard rep, of course, but the variety of works in it shows a broad taste in music from Bach to Shostakovich.  Of particular interest to the readers of this board is his Rubinstein 4, recorded with Mitropoulos leading the New York Phil.  Of course, this recording is hardly unknown, but in all these years I had never heard it, so I listened to it on YouTube, not expecting much -- archival sound, a comedian playing at being a virtuoso, but little more.

It's amazing. 

Yes, the sound is archival and Levant is too forward in the mix, but this is by far the best performance of the Rubinstein 4 that I have ever heard.  What makes it so good is how lovingly shaped and phrased it is, bar after bar.  The Rubinstein 4 is a good concerto, but hardly a great one, yet in Mitropoulos's hands you become convinced that you are listening to one of the great masterpieces of music.  The attention to detail is unlike any other performance I have heard.  And Levant, far from just being along for the ride, matches Mitropoulos at every turn, playing like a true virtuoso.  It shows how good modest material can sound when placed in the best hands.





Finally, returning to "Humoresque", 40 years ago SCTV did a goofy parody of it, called "New York Rhapsody".  Leave it to the SCTV crew to poke fun at a movie most of their audience probably never heard of:




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